Jen Rhines Scratches from 10K, With Big Implications

Three-time Olympian Jen Rhines has scratched from the women's 10,000, a move that has significant ramifications for who'll make the Olympic team in the event.

That's because Rhines was one of eight women with the Olympic "A" standard (31:45) in the event. Three of the eight--Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila and Kara Goucher--have already made the marathon team. Flanagan will run the 10,000 at the Trials, but will give up her spot in the event if she places in the top three. By all accounts, Goucher, who won the national half marathon title on Saturday, isn't running, and Davila has said she isn't.

That leaves five women with the "A" standard to fight for the three spots, or at least it did until Rhines scratched. Now we're at four. One of the remaining four with the "A" standard is Molly Huddle, who is the American record-holder at 5000 meters and doesn't appear on the official list of declared athletes in the 10,000.

Once you do all that sifting, you're left with Amy Hastings, Lisa Uhl and Janet Bawcom as runners with the Olympic "A" standard who'll run the event at the Trials with the intent to run it at the Olympics. The only scenario in which someone else makes the team involves the Trials race being fast enough to result in a finishing time under 31:45. That's tough sledding. Amy Yoder Begley willed herself to just meeting the standard with her dramatic stretch run for third at the 2008 Trials, but that performance was more the exception than the rule.

If the race doesn't go out at 31:45 pace, then Hastings, Uhl and Bawcom need only finish the race to make the Olympic team, because USATF policy is to send as full a team as possible. That was the scenario in the men's 10,000 at the 2004 Trials, where Dathan Ritzenhein had the "A" standard but also had a broken foot, and winced his way through 25 laps to finish last and make his first Olympic team.

Scott DouglasScott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

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